Stonewall Jackson’s Winter Operations

Timothy R. Snyder’s Stonewall Jackson’s Winter Operations: The Raids Against the C&O Canal and the Bath-Romney Campaign, December 1861 to February 1862 offers a fresh perspective on early-war operations led by famed Confederate General Thomas Jonathan “Stonewall” Jackson. When viewed apart from the Shenandoah Valley Campaign, these earlier military activities reveal a starkly different portrait of the enigmatic general. Instead of lightning-quick maneuvers and overwhelming victories, Snyder depicts a fallible Jackson who encountered significant difficulties, made mistakes and miscalculations, and led a series of unsuccessful operations.As commander of the Valley District, Jackson orchestrated raids against two dams of the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal Company, a vital coal carrier serving Washington, D.C. This book provides the first comprehensive account of these important but understudied events that helped shape the war along the Maryland-Virginia border. Although Jackson failed to breach either structure, his persistent efforts highlight the canal’s overlooked significance to the Union war effort. Snyder’s extensive primary source research—including official reports, letters, diaries, and newspapers—fundamentally reshapes perceptions of the fabled Confederate general to present a more accurate historical portrait of the man and his early military career.During the bitterly cold Bath-Romney Campaign, Jackson led a small army into the Allegheny foothills, and captured Bath, Virginia. On picket duty at the town, several men from General William W. Loring’s command froze to death while officers from the Stonewall Brigade lodged their men in a resort hotel. This disparity fueled deep resentment within Loring’s command and eventually a near-mutiny. Although Jackson later captured Romney, Virginia, without a fight, occupying the town was not the general’s original objective. When the Confederate secretary of war ordered Jackson to withdraw Loring’s command to Winchester, Jackson threatened to resign, citing interference from Richmond. Snyder’s extensive primary source research reveals that this order was, in fact, strategically sound given Confederate intelligence and Union troop concentrations.Stonewall Jackson’s Winter Operations fundamentally reshapes perceptions of the fabled Confederate general to present a more accurate historical portrait of the man and his military career.